if it happens, it'll be under the leadership of the speaker of the house of representatives, john boehner. we'll protect the middle class and we know that we'll have -- there'll be pain on both sides. we know that. but to forge a balanced agreement, we need the republicans to come forward with something. it's time to listen to the american people. and that is really a valid statement. the vast majority of independents support what the president has sent to the republicans in the house. the vast majority of democrats support it. more than 40% of the republicans support this proposal. the republicans need to show us that they can help lead this country. senator durbin? >> thank you, senator reid. we can debate at length whether the november 6th election was -- >> comments from the senate majority leader, harry reid. essentially saying the exact same thing that speaker boehner did except mr. reid chiding republicans, if you will, saying we're still waiting on a serious offer from the republicans. just a few moments ago, as you did hear live on cnbc, it was speaker boehner saying democrats ha